Hamilton Wants to be Pesticide Free

A few weeks back, when I posted about pesticide use at Wallingford Park, I heard from several families at Hamilton International Middle School. As noted before on this blog, Seattle Public Schools routinely utilizes pesticides at public schools, because it is more cost-effective than hand-weeding. There are so many concerns about the use of pesticides around children and pregnant women that I don’t even know where to begin my rant about this short-sighted behavior, so I will point you to the fact sheets available at the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP).

Seattle Public Schools has an official Integrated Pest Management (IPM) policy that includes using pesticides, “only as a last resort for solving pest problems.” However, people on the frontlines of this issue, such as Megan Dunn at the NACP, have discovered that SPS’s IPM policy is neither funded nor staffed. Ms. Dunn has appealed to SPS Superintendent Larry Nyland, who “was receptive” to funding and implementing the policy, but thus far no steps have been taken in that direction.

Enter the student Green Team at Hamilton International Middle School. This group of students wants to make Hamilton a “no spray zone” and are working to raise community awareness about this issue. To support their cause, neighbors can:

Come out to Wallingford Playfield at 3 pm on Sunday to support the students in their signature collecting efforts. They will be there dressed as bees and butterflies, and you (or your children) are welcome to don a pair of wings and meet them out there. They hope to raise awareness within the local neighbor and parent communities that Seattle Public Schools uses pesticides, as many people don’t know this. They will have paper copies of their petition available to sign as well.

Fingers crossed that the school district finds its students hard to ignore and actually starts implementing its own policy. It’s a good policy, and ought to be a model for the country instead of a document collecting dust while the district continues to spray.

they shouldn’t be using pesticides Anywhere! but let’s do it place by place until whomever’s in charge wakes up. Any short term gains (in time or money) are totally meaningless compared to Any short or long term harm caused by pesticides to children, people, domestic animals, wildlife, our environment, the whole planet….these are necessary stoppages, but we have to vote in conscious people with hearts to all the positions that have any say over our lives.

Barbbsea

KING 5 reporter Amy Moreno and cameraman Dave stopped by Wallingford Playfield this afteroon to interview the HIMS Green Team and learn more about the situation, thanks to this post on Wallyhood! The story will be on the 11:00 news tonight and the KING 5 web site Monday.

Barbbsea

The Hamilton Green Team outreach activity at Wallingford Playfield was covered by KING 5 news:

Kimberly, did the school district really say they were using pesticides to deal with weeds? Pesticides shouldn’t have anything to do with hand weeding. Weeds would be treated with an herbicide such as Round-up. (To be clear, I am not a fan of either.)

I’d love clarification on this issue. What chemicals are they using and to what end? Are there insects or rodents that they are trying to eliminate?

Kimberly

Hi Anne,

SPS defines pesticides to include herbicides and insecticides. They use herbicides like Roundup to tackle the weeds. They do also use rodent-icides, at least at my children’s school.

Does that clear things up?

Wallyhood is dedicated to fostering community and communication in the Wallingford neighborhood. A group of volunteer editors rotate the responsibility of managing the site, and we welcome stories from all our neighbors.

This week’s editor is ​Jack McLaughlin. You can contact the editor-of-the-week at [email protected].

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